


N Y L A

by Thalissa (ThalissaRemnant)



Category: DARLING In The FRANXX (Anime)
Genre: F/M, Long-Distance Relationship, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-06-25 19:45:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15647697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThalissaRemnant/pseuds/Thalissa
Summary: "You're in New York, I'm in LAI drive to work, you take the trainMy heart – it burns, yes it burns, yes it burnsWe're oceans awayI'll be asleep at the time you're awakeBy the time you're awake"





	1. Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This is an AU where Hiro and Zero Two (Named Sakura, seeing as "Zero Two" wouldn't be a real life name) have met online, and Hiro's thinking over the struggles of a long distance relationship. This is inspired by the beautiful song "N Y L A" by Blackbear. It's also based off my own relationship, where I met my darling through a Darling in the FRANXX chat. I owe this anime all my happiness in the past few months.

Hiro always knew it was going to be hard. From the first day he started realising he had feelings for this perfect, adorable, energetic girl he'd met on a chat site, how much he focused on protecting her when playing online games, how much he enjoyed spending time with her, how much he adored watching random videos with her... He knew it would be hard.

It had been a steady scale upwards from that first message they had shared. Neither of them had expected it to turn out like it did. A public room about some anime that had just recently come out, though he had always been on the shy side... Yet, there was a longing in him, watching her make posts, just the way she conveyed emotion through her text.

He didn't know what had pushed him over the edge, but he decided to throw a message towards her. It was a roleplay chat, so he decided to simply do the generic--"Walk over and ask how she's doing" approach. He could feel judgement flush through his face. She seemed pretty popular. Hell, he half expected her to straight up ignore him, but hey, worse that she could do is ignore him, right?

Then she responded back, and they continued from there.

Their friendship quickly grew from there and it was the happiest he had felt.. ever, really. Day after day, he'd try to sleep during the day, to wake up at night and spend time with her as soon as she woke up. They were in completely opposite timezones, he learned, but he'd make it work. He didn't want to inconvenience her, so he inconvenienced himself instead. It wasn't like he had anything to do during the day, anyway, save for being yelled at his parents to get out more and make more effort to get himself a job.

Oh well, he told himself. She made him happy, and each time he woke up, waiting for her to get on so they could nerd over anime more, she would be all he could focus on. Sure, he had some other responsibilities that he couldn't skip out on… Even as he played games with his other group of friends, though, some with mixed feelings of his new friend, he couldn't keep from sending her message when he could. His mind was always on her, like an infection that he happily would've let consume his body.

The very first "I love you" really hit him. He didn't realise how it happened, but after spending so much time together each and every day, all of a sudden it just.. Felt natural. When she said it back, his heart throbbed so hard against his chest he didn't know if it'd burst out or not. From then on, he made sure to say "I love you" every day that he could. Whether it be before they went to sleep or just over the tiniest thing, he wanted to assure her that he loved her, and assure himself because it truly didn't feel real sometimes.

They played games together when the feeling came to them, they roleplayed fantasies that they hoped to one day have, watched videos of silly things to pass the time. It was perfection, and he couldn't have been happier to dedicate every waking minute of his life to her when he could.

Of course, "waking" was an issue of that. He felt the pressure of his parents wanting him to spend more time off of his computer, but besides when she went off to work, the daytime was truly the only time he could sleep without missing her… Then his sleep schedule slowly started getting pushed around, and he started staying awake through the day after getting three hours of sleep in the morning, and passing out in the middle of spending time with her. He was a mess, honestly, but he was her mess.

Even as things came up, even when their anime had concluded and they started spending less time together, he knew he wanted to give her all the love possible. Real life had been a bump in her end, too, so it wasn't just his side of the world rocking the lover's boat. Sometimes he'd only see her for a couple of hours a day, but he always told himself that as long as he could speak to her at least once a day, he'd be the happiest man in the world.

He hoped she felt the same.

She was, and always would be, his everything.

"Hey Darling," he heard over the voicecall, and immediately his mood brightened after a long day of filling out job applications.

"Sakura," he called her name in a soft, adoring voice, staring at the adorable pink-haired icon she had that matched his icon of a black-haired guy.

The two characters in their icons were from the anime that had originally brought them together, and it meant everything to him. It was the reason why they had even gotten to know each other. If it weren't for it, he wouldn't have had the happiest past few months of his life.

Despite everything that might be terrible around him, she was his beacon, that beautiful accented voice saying, "How are you?"

Him responding with a, "I'm good now that I get to spend time with you," brought a laugh from her, and his heart started beating fast like it always did when that adorable sound came over his headset.

It was late, for her at least. Almost time for her to head to bed, and meanwhile he was just waking up. He was happy, though. They were going to watch some videos of a new anime that had just come out, and while he wasn't sure if he'd like the anime or not, he knew that he'd always adore the time he spent with her. It was becoming rarer and rarer by the day, but they'd make this work.

"Here's the link, my darling," she said, and he heard a notification come from his chat.

Without hesitation he clicked the link, waited for it to load, and then put it up on his main monitor while he slid the voicecall over to his second screen. It was all about her, he didn't need to tab out. He didn't need anything but her. "Ready, darling," he said, idly staring into that beautiful pink haired girl in her icon while he waited for the countdown.

"Three," she began, icon lighting up, "Two…" she then said, with a pause for anticipation, or perhaps she was moving her mouse to the play button, "One, go!" she finished in rapid succession, and he clicked down on the "play" button immediately as that excited command hit his ears.

They'd chat about the exciting parts of the anime, agree with each other about what they liked or what they noticed, joke about some of the characters. His heart, all the while, was covered in joy.

Sure, they might not do this every day.

Sometimes they may only get to talk a few hours each day.

He knew, though, that these few hours were the highlight of his day each day.

No one could take that from him.


	2. Distance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiro wonders what he might need to do to close the distance. How can you really close a distance so wide, when all you have is a drive for someone who's so far away?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a continuation of "N Y L A," where I explore a little more in the idea of a long-distance Hiro and Sakura (Zero Two). I wondered where to start, what I could do within the constraints of never having two characters being able to feel or touch each other. I ended up just focusing on simple things for a start. Here's "Distance."

 Despite knowing that this would be difficult, Hiro believed that they could make this work. He'd keep his phone on him, lay in bed and wait for a message from her to pop up if he wasn't writing a message himself. Instant messaging was far from hearing her voice, how she giggled at his silly jokes, and the way she called him "Darling." It was something though, at least, when they didn’t have the ability to voice.

Recently they had started throwing fanart at each other, fawning over potential characters to play out and deciding who would play what, thinking up scene ideas. She had found two characters--three, actually, but they'd probably end up just playing two of them. One was a pretty girl with long white hair that went down past her lower back, long, blue, curvy horns, and silver eyes. The other had white hair, too, except not as long. His horns were a dark purple-black gradient, and seemed almost like flames how they rose off the sides of his head. His eyes, though, were nearly solid black, and he looked awesome.

"So which one would my darling play?" he saw below all the art that had been piled onto the chat like a treasure trove that they had to split equally among each other. His thumb gently scrolled up his screen and considered her question. The girl did look very pretty, and he doubted he could've gotten the personality of the guy correct…

At the same time, he knew she liked strong guys, something that he.. Very much wasn't. Roleplay was perhaps one of the best ways to be something you weren't, to feel strong where you weren't naturally. It was all a matter of putting on the persona and getting into the mindset… Though, when something was so far off the bat, how could you even make a swing? "Probably the girl..?" he typed unsurely, after repeatedly typing, deleting, then re-typing his response over and over. Send.

"Alright darling! <3" she typed back with almost no delay, and he smiled into his screen. He could hear her voice in his head. _Darling, darling, darling._ It was the cutest name ever, and he was honoured to have it said to him multiple times throughout the day.

He began getting more images pushed through their chat, and he chuckled, rolling over onto his side and letting the phone flop against the palm of his hand. Reaching over with his over arm, he twirled the charger around his finger from the side of his bed, and dragged it up so he could plug it in. He had let his phone die overnight way too many times, and had learned from his mistakes ever since finding his darling. The one that made him happy. The one that he spoke to through his computer and his phone, and if anything ever happened to either of those two connections… It'd all be gone.

"Oooo, his eyes are really nice in that one. Who'll that be?" he asked as she posted more of the third character that they had been fawning over, another guy. Bright, purple eyes, white hair like the other two, and he wore a purple t-shirt underneath a very, very fluffy jacket.

"Dunno!" she responded, and then he paused before he replied as soon as he saw her 'Typing. . .' appear again. "Hypothetically, if I played him… Which one of your characters would he fit with?" she finally sent. Oh god.

He had a habit of making cool character concepts: Healing half-demons, singers that raised the dead with their voice, an alien that was the cutest, most harmless thing in the world. It was all for her. Every character he made, he created with the idea in mind that he might potentially write them with her. She was his muse, his happiness, and all he wanted.

Sadly with the lack of time on her part due to personal issues among her family, it was hard to sit down and write with her. He had to settle for occasional chit-chats before she'd inevitably fall asleep so the wouldn't be dead tired for work. He didn't give up, though. He'd make more characters, plan for the future, show them off to her to see if they'd spark any ideas with her. They couldn't spend time together right then, but he knew they eventually would have all the time in the world. Just not at that night.

"Remember that singing necromancer that I made? With the pretty blue horns and wings?" he asked, tapping away at his screen then pressing in on the 'Send' button. Shuffling his shoulders to get more comfortable, then turning his head so his cheek was buried in his pillow, he waited patiently, trying to make sure his eyes would never close for too long at a time.

"Hmm. . ." she typed, then shot a second message afterwards. "Could work! We shall see <3"

There went his heart again, throbbing in his chest, making his blood race with excitement. Tap tap tap went his fingers across the screen, until he lingered on the finished message of "I can't wait. Maybe tomorrow we can get some writing in?" He knew the potential answer. She'd be at work, or have to go out. He'd be stuck at home, hoping that she wouldn't have to do any of that.

The lingering motionlessness of the screen made him rub his cheek into his pillow more and drag the covers closer to his face. Eyes slid closed, he wondered how much it was to fly over to her… Even for a minute, he'd do anything to feel his darling's fingers entwined in his own. Anything to hear her voice on his ears and not over a voicechat. He'd throw away his entire life where he was now, so long as he could spend eternity in her arms.

A little ping from the chat made his eyes snap him out of his daydream, and those hopeful, blue eyes settled on her latest message: "I have to go out early tomorrow…" Exactly what he feared. 'Tomorrow' for her was 6 hours from where he current was, and he wasn't feeling particularly tired unless he forced himself to sleep… Which had variable results usually. Right when he was about to reply, he saw her typing more, and the next message made him perk up: "But after that I shouuuld be free" followed up by a "Sound good darling?"

Immediately his face was returned to having that bright, dorky smile that stared into his phone screen. "Yeah!" He didn't make mention of not feeling like sleeping. They knew each other's time issues. He'd either fall asleep right when she did and wake up when she did, or fall asleep right as she woke up and not see her until 5 in the morning.

"Perfect~" she returned, immediately proceeded by, "Come join me under the blankets, darling?"

Of course he wanted to. "I'd love to," he typed back. There was a double meaning there. Being roleplayers, they liked to always imagine that they were in the same house, in the same bed, sharing the same sheets. Their imagination could run wild together, and no distance could keep them from that. However, there was always a longing in his words that went unsaid. If he had one wish in the world, it would be to beside her. To gaze into her eyes as she fell asleep. To wrap his arms around her and kiss and cuddle her until they were a mess of entangled limbs that drifted off into sleep.

He saw her go offline for a little while, signalling that she was getting ready for bed. He had some time to pick through some airline tickets, just out of his own curiosity. Maybe he could surprise her, one day? They could see each other, hug and kiss. The issue though, as always, was... Money. That thing that kept society going. It was the sole barrier to eternal happiness, and he only felt that sting harsher when he saw some of the ticket prices. They were… Definitely out of his price range.

Maybe if he had gone to college, he'd have a job, and he could work towards it. He had done pretty well in school, he had set everything up to get into a good college and yet… He didn't want to go. What was the point? What was he really  moving forward for? Two years had passed since he graduated high school and he had nothing to show for it except his mediocre gaming skills and slowly forgetting all that French that he had shoved into his head.

Now though, he had reason. He had drive. He had her. She was his darling, and he was her darling. She needed him and he needed her.

Fingers typed a new search into the search bar: "Local jobs." He clicked the first job search website he found, and began scrolling through all the already-clicked links, along with all the ones that were way out of his experience range. "Experience: 2 years customer service," "Qualifications: 3 years in an office environment," "Responsibilities: Must be self-driven." That last one even made him dryly laugh to himself. Self-drive? No, that wasn't something possible at all. The only drive he had was from his darling Sakura. If someone put him in front of something and let him access his phone whenever he needed, he'd be the hardest worker they'd ever seen. Yet, no sane person would ever hire someone like that.

A deep inhale exhaled into a sigh, and then he saw a notification pop up at the top of his phone. A message from Sakura! He clicked over to the messaging app as soon as possible, let it load, and then read her message. "I'm really sleepy darling…" That was her signal that she was about to pass out.

Quickly, knowing she could fall asleep on a dime, he typed "Get some sleep darling. I love you," and then hesitated for a second, before following up with "I'll see you in our dreams."

He knew she at least saw his message. Her adorable pink-haired icon stayed lit up for a little while, before inevitably he assumed she had done just as expected and fell asleep with her phone in hand. She was so adorable all the time. He could imagine it for himself, wrapped up in her bed covers, that sweet smile and beautiful green eyes staring into her phone.

Though, now that she was asleep, he felt empty. He had woken up just a few hours ago, making sure he'd mostly be asleep while she was at work, but she was so tired when she got home always… At least tomorrow, he thought to himself, she didn't have to do much. He, of course, never had to do much either. Maybe they could spend some extended time together.

Instead of sitting and reflecting on what might could be, he decided to get up and work on things. He'd put in more job applications, chat to some of his other friends. Maybe Goro or Ichigo were online. Zorome and Miku were surely bickering in their chat server over a game, they always were.

It was all just something to distract himself until his darling came online. He considered just occupying himself into sleep depravation so he didn't pass out the second she came online. Then again, he always considered doing that, and it always became a bad idea a few hours later.

As soon as he sat down in his chair and turned his computer back on, he sighed out, seeing his background of their two anime characters that they had turned into their icons. In the picture they were so happy, hand in hand, running off into the sunset together.

Hopefully that'd be him and Sakura together one day.

They'd make this work, he knew it.

They loved each other too much to ever let it fall apart, no matter the distance.


	3. Paris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The third chapter of "N Y L A" where Hiro tries to hang out with some of his close friends, but wonders if he's as close to them as he used to be, and how his relationship with Sakura might be influencing it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> paris \ 'pa-res\ n. 1: a sentimental yearning for a reality that isn't genuine 2: an irrecoverable condition for fantasy that evokes nostalgia or day dreams

3 in the afternoon where he was, 11 at night where she was. Rubbing his eyes after finally deciding that he wouldn't get to sleep and he should try to do things, he crawled out of bed and did a quick stretch. Over and over in his head, he kept hearing "We'll make this work," and over and over in his head he could just imagine her waking up to see him just fall asleep. It hurt his heart, but what could he do? Their sleeping patterns were just way too off…

"At least listening to Miku and Zorome might distract me…" he mumbled under his breath, plopping down in his seat and wiggling the mouse a little to make the screen flicker on. "Come on, hurry up," he said, giving the mouse an extra wiggle despite knowing it wouldn't do anything. Soon enough, he had his password typed in: "02ZeroTwoSixteen16," a homage to their user codes on the chat site they used. Then he tapped on the icon in his taskbar and checked his friend's server.

There was plenty of chat about random things. A new tabletop roleplaying system had just come out, so Ichigo and a few of the others were going over the rules together. There was something about how you could sneak attack with a shield bash, and the mental image made Hiro just chuckle and shake his head. These games weren't always the most sensible, but they sure were fun, and one of the few ways he still stayed connected to all his other friends.

Then his eyes lingered to the "Gaming" voicechat. Or, well, it used to be named that, before someone renamed it to "Lovebirds Nest." He wondered for a moment who did that, and then wondered if the two in there, Zorome and Miku, had even noticed.

Now, he wasn't usually one to cause trouble… Or come in between their private times… Yet, he really wanted to see what their reaction would be. So, like the clever person he was, he opened up Ichigo's private messages.

It had been so long since he talked to her, he noticed, and let out an audible "Sheesh" when he noticed that a full two months had passed since they last had a private conversation together. They used to chat all the time, but… Shaking his head, he decided to set out to do what he wanted instead of focus on that.

"Hey Ichigo. Was it you that renamed the gaming voicechat?" he sent. He knew it was probably either her or Goro, and if Goro was the one that did it… Well, he had a plan for that too.

It took a minute before he saw the 'Typing. . .' indicator appear, and then a message appeared. "Nope, that was Goro this time."

That surprised Hiro for a second. Just straight up ratting him out? Well, he guessed it really didn't matter as long as the two lovebirds themselves didn't find out who it was. In any case, he quickly responded back with, "Well those two wanted to talk to you anyway. Mind hopping in their voicechat for them? I'll be there too." Trap, set.

"Wha? They just assumed it was me? Rude," Ichigo typed, and as soon as he read that, Hiro tabbed over to the server, watching the voicechat with his mouse hovering over to 'Enter Call' button.

It took a minute to get her headset on, or at least that was what Hiro assumed was keeping her. Though as soon as she entered the call, he clicked his mouse button down, muted himself, and listened to the sure-to-ensue chaos.

It was Miku's voice he heard first, still in the middle of a sentence, "-but what I'm saying is you always run in and die!" she stressed the word die with a raise of her voice.

Then Zorome's came up, a lot more nonchalant and dismissive, "Eh, so what? I respawn anyway. Not my fault that this game's dumb and things are way too overpowered. Wait, did you hear two people join?"

There was a pause from the both of them, and then it was Ichigo who took the time to speak, "Hey guys. You wanted to talk to me..?" she asked unsurely, and Hiro could almost feel her gaze shift to his muted icon. Teasingly he stuck out his tongue, not that she could see it.

"About what? Did you call her in here so you didn't have to have your ass told off?" Miku accused Zorome, though that prompted Ichigo to speak up again.

"No… Hiro said you two wanted to talk to me about the voicechat's name change?" the blue-haired icon clarified, and then all of them could hear the sudden keyboard presses of Zorome and Miku tabbing out and then clicking to the server.

"Lovebird's Nest!?" the two said in sync.

Then Zorome asked before Miku could, "Wait, did you change it? Did Hiro? What sense does that even make, we're not lovebirds. You guys just never play with us anymore, so we spend a lot of friendly time in here!"

Miku chimed in after the initial shock had washed through her, clearly just as irritated while trying to justify themselves, "Yeah, that's all. This running joke is stupid- Wait, how long had it been like that? When did we start again, Zorome..?" she asked.

All the while, Hiro was lightly laughing in his seat. He could hear the confusion from Ichigo's attempts to get a word in over Miku and Zorome, but they kept on.

"Three hours ago. Has it been like that for three hours? Everyone probably saw it and didn't say anything, ugh!" Zorome said, and Hiro could hear him hit the desk with a fist.

At that point, Ichigo finally decided to force her way before they could continue rambling on. "Okay, okay, settle down. It was just a joke. I didn't do it, but it was pretty funny… Despite all the jokes we know you two aren't really together-together-" Then she was cut off by Zorome again.

"We're not even regular together!" the boy huffed.

"Yeah we're not," Miku confirmed, then suddenly turned her focus on the forth person in the call. "Wait, Hiro sent you in here? Hiro I swear if you were the one that did it you're getting your butt kicked in the next session we play."

Oh no. Now he'd have to hold back his laughter and defend himself. He put his hand over his mouth and took a deep breath in through his nose, then slowly release it through his mouth. Once he was settled down, he hit the unmute button and spoke up, "No, wasn't me either. I just wanted to see how you two would react when you noticed. You would've been blowing up the chat literally if you had noticed," he explained. He couldn't supress the chuckle that came up, but he managed to take his finger off the push-to-talk button before it went over the voicechat.

"Yeah? Who did it then?" Zorome spoke up as soon as he was finished.

Then Miku pressed in as well, "Yeah, who?"

Hiro almost felt like him and Ichigo looked at each other's icons at the same time. Whether they did or not, they still seemingly had an understanding: Time to dip.

"Hey sorry, I gotta head to dinner-" Hiro said, glancing at the clock. Dinner at 3:30 in the afternoon? He wished.

"I have to head off too, for some jogging before it gets too dark," Ichigo's excuse was at least a little more reasonable.

Right as Zorome and Miku's icons lit up, both of the other two clicked "Disconnect," and silence fell upon Hiro's ears again. For a minute, until he blinked his eyes open and noticed a message from Ichigo. He opened it, and grinned as soon as he read, "You're terrible. Glad to see you outside of our weekly tabletop games, though," and that last part is what put Hiro into a bit more sombre tone.

He used to love hanging out with the group. They were his safety net. If anything went wrong, he could run to any one of them. Now, it was all about Sakura… Sakura, the one that had stolen his heart, yet she was so far away. His heart was all the way in another country, and it wasn't even assured that they'd meet each other.

Hiro thought about replying to Ichigo's message, but instead he tabbed over to his games list and opened up one of the many open world building games that he liked to occupy his time with. He didn't know anything to say to Ichigo that wouldn’t lead to a conversation about Sakura, and he didn't want to have that conversation with her right now.

His heart was too deeply embedded in her to let her go.

Besides, he still kept up with his friends. It wasn't like he had tossed them away completely. He had just swapped out some of their time for time being with Sakura. They all understood that this was what made him happy, right? He even remembered Goro and Ichigo commenting on how happy he seemed after the long boat of depression he had been in, right when he started talking to Sakura.

If they wanted him to be happy, they could let go a little, right?

Right, he told himself.

Despite the intense longing. The yearning to hold Sakura in his arms, the willingness to go to any length for her and to see her smile. He'd throw all his happiness out the window if he could just see that smile.

"Too bad life's not perfect," he sighed out, shaking his head to clear it some, and opened up one of his save files on his game. It was named "Mistilteinn," where he worked on making a big, big kingdom. He was the king, and Sakura was his queen. It was so complex at that point: A castle with so many rooms, and hidden rooms, a dungeon area for any who might try to tear them apart. Then he built a place for each of his friends to live in. Ikuno got a research lab because she liked science so much, Ichigo had a building close to the castle where the royal guard could be since she was a natural born leader. Miku and Zorome got their own little school together… He didn't know why, but he thought with their conflicting personalities they'd make great school teachers.

If only they could all be in this world. Something built from the ground up, where everything can be perfect, he thought.

Or maybe if only Sakura could be in his arms, they wouldn't have timezones, or distance, or anything else in the way of being together.

With a deep inhale, Hiro tabbed out, put on some upbeat music, and set off to go make a new building… He didn't know what it'd be yet, but in a kingdom, there had to be plenty of places to live, right?

A big, happy city. Everyone knew each other. Everyone could support each other. Everyone could love each other.

And he would be happy with Sakura.

They would make this work, and eventually they could have a perfect reality like in his game.

She gave him hope, and drive, and that's all he could ever want. She was all he could ever want. She made him happy, and that's what he needed.


End file.
